Conveying apparatus



Jan. 13; 1931 MQSER 1,788,685

CONVEYING APPARATUS Filed March 11, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 V A QIV JL o J& 1%! \e INVENTOR JRJWOSER I i-Q Jan. 13, 1931. J. MOSER 1,788,685

' CONVEYING APPARATUS Filed Marh 11, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 MENTOR I J MOSER' BY M44 ATTORNEY i Patented Jan. 13, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT'OFFICE .mssn n. mosnn, or TOLEDO, onro, nssrenon To run scar-non comausrron '00., m-

CORPORATED, or TOLEDO, onro, A conrona'rron on NEW YORK comma APPARATUS Application filed March 11, 1930. erial No. 484,991.

burizing furnacethat is to say, a furnace.

in which iron or steel articlesare first heated from a relatively low temperature to a temperature ranging to as much as 1450-1650 F., more or less, and then allowed to cool 16 again, and in such application I shall show and describe it. Its wider applicability, to furnaces dealing with other particular materials for other particular ends will be understood by the engineer.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 1s a fragmentary view in vertical and longitudinal section, on the plane indicated by the line 11, Fig. 5, of a carburizing furnace in the structure of which my invention is embodied; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in horizontal section through the furnace and shows'in plan from above the floor o, the furnace with its conveyor equipment for sustaining and carrying material which adso vances through the furnace; .Figs. 3 and 4' are fragmentary views to larger scale and in longitudinal and transverse sections, re- I spectively, and illustrating details of such conveyor equipment. The plane of section of Fig. is in Fig. 3 indicated by the broken line 44. Figure 5 is a fragmentary view to larger scale than Figs. 1 and 2, showing the furnace, partly in end elevation, partly in vertical and transverse section, on 40 the plane indicated at 55, 1. In Fig. 5 only the upper portion of the floor appears: the supporting structure of Fig. 1 is not shown; Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are fragmentary views to larger scale, showing in plan, in vertical and transverse section, and in horizontal section, details of the conveyor equipment of the furnace floor.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 5, the furnace will be seen to be of tunnel form, adapted to allow material to advance in continuous course, in at one end, through the tunnel,

and out at the other end. The progress of material through the furnace may be understood to be from left to right, as seen in Fig. 1. The tunnel within is shown to consist of a plurality of parts, distinguished in the height of the tunnel arch, connected in continuity. Beginning at the end on the left, Fig. 1, the material enters a chamber 1 whose arched roof is relatively low; it advances thence to a chamber 2 of higher roof, and from chamber 2 to acentral chamber 3 whose roof is higher still; From chamber 3 the material advances through chambers 4: and 5 to the exit. Chambers 4 and 5 correspond in length and in height of roof to chambers 2 and 1 respectively, and the chamber structures of the two ends are symmetrical one to the other, as shown in Fig. 1. Manifestly, the progress of material through the furnace might be in either direction, and may be at One time in one direc, tion and at another time in opposite tion; but, for purposes of description, the direction is assumed to be from left to right. In the tunnel walls'and floor, within the central chamberB, burners 6 are set, and from these burners, it may be understood, flames will spring. No chimney is provided; but the flames, filling the central chamber 3, stream thence through-the tunnel in both directions, andthe products of combustion emerge at the two open ends. The

dimensions of the tunneland of its constituent chambers, the thickness of the walls and roof, and the particular materials em-.

ployed, will be such as the engineer, proceeding with his knowledge of the art, will choose, to establish thedesired temperature range and gradients. The material, entering, is enveloped in an atmosphere which is in the. succeeding chambers 1, 2, and 3 of successively higher temperature, until in chamber 3 it is of maximum degree. In its further progress the material is, in chambers 4: and 5, enveloped in an atmosphere of diminishingtemperature, and is correspond ingly cooled.

Referring to the particular furnace chosen for purposes direciii) Fig. 5, it will. be seen that with guides 9, by means of which they are retained in position, mounted upon sets of aligned disks 8. Upon such conveyor structure the boxes rest and are carried, as they are pushed through the furnace. It is with 1 the conveyor disks 8 and theirmounting in ,the furnace floor that my invention has to do. The'end in view is a structure which, under the rough and severe conditions of service and under the varying and fluctuzo ating conditions of temperatures, shall during prolonged intervals of continuing operation afford smooth travel; shall be relatively free of accident ordelay; shallrequire minimum interruption; and shallainvolve but asmall cost of maintenance.

The floor structure includes a succession of transversely set piers 10. These piers are shouldered, and etween successive pairs, and overlapping the shoulders, floor sec- 80 tions 11 are-built. It will be remarked in Figs 1 and 3 that space is provided for longitudinal play of floor sections 11 relatively to piers 10,- to allow for thermal expansion and contraction. Upon the floo'r sections 11 pillars 12 are set and these pillars 12 together with the upper ends of piers -10 constitute a succession of supporting members,

spaced apart longitudinally ofthe tunnel, that flame may circulate through; and to the same end the piers and pillars may be provided with longitudinally extending pas; sageways or flue spaces, as; indicated at 13, Figs. 4 and 5. Certain of the burners 6 may, as shown in Fig. 1, be situated to deliver their flames to the spaces between these su ports.

ines of linter-blocks 14 rest upon piers 10 and pillars 12 and bridge the spaces at which piers and pillars stand apart. The

blocks i i-extend in continuous lines from end to endof the tunnel, as will be perceived on comparing Figs. 1 and 6. The successive blocks in line are so spaced as to allow for longitudinal expansion and contraction under varying conditions of heat, and this feature also is indicated in the drawings. Thepiers 10 and the pillars 12 are at their upper ends provided with re-entrant recesses, in whlchthe ends of the lintel-blocks 14 are 60 received, to prevent the lintel blocks from displacement and to keep them aligned. There are in the furnace of the drawings eight lines of linter-blocks 14. This appears on comparison of Figs. 2 and 5. All

05 the structure described-piers, floor sections,

pillars, and lintel-blocks -is built of refractory and heat-insulating material: fire-brick or its equivalent.

Upon each lineof lintel-blocks 1 L rests a rail 15, The rail 15-is essentially U-shaped in cross-section and rests upon the lintelblocks with its parallel webs extending vertically upward, as most clearly shown in Fig. 7. At intervals thewebs of the rail are provided with opposite bearings for the trunnions 16of disks 8. The surfaces of the opposite bearings which the trunnions of the disk engage are concave and shaped to a common spherical surface, and the trunn1ons are convex and of a shape generated by the rotation of a segment of a circle upon its cord, and are of such dimensions that when the disk is in position in its bearings its trunnions engage the bearings along lines which lie in a single circumference, to the end that the disks in tipping laterally shall always have such extended engagement between the trunnions and their bearings. Thus the disk resting by gravity 1 in the bearings, may adjust itself to minor conditions of misalignment, and may under necessity move'to such an ob ique position as in Fig. 7 is indicated in dotted lines, and

yet the strains will not be concentrated, but will be distributed throughout the extent of the arcs of bearing contact.

Each rail is made up of sections, sponding in length to the distance between piers 10. The piers are pi'ovided each with a saddle 17 built into the'masonry, as is best shown in Figs. 3 and 4., and between opposite sides of each saddle the adjacent ends of' two sequent rail sections are pinned. .The pin holes, at one end at least of each rail section, are elongate, to permit thermal expansion and contraction of the rail section upon its support. The webs of the rails between the successive pairs of bearings are cut away, from the upper edges downwardly, as in Fig. 3 is indicated at 18. By

,lm such excisions the tendency of the rails to.

bow upwardly, when heated morehighly above than below is counteracted and tically eliminated;

As appears in Eigf5,the boxes 7 are carprac ried, each on. a pair-of rails-15. Meansarc providedfor maintaining therails of each pair permanent-l in properly spaced relation one to the ot er.

Such means are found in a succession of dumb-bell shaped blocks 1 19 whose opposite enlarged heads fit snugly but with freedom of play, and yet secure against separation, in opposite pairs of sockets 20, formed at intervals upon the inner faces of the two rails-of'eachpair.

The blocks 19 are tension members, preventive of separation of the rails, and they are compression members also, in that they prevent the rails from moving one toward, the other. v

2 sockets. 4

F'urther means are rovided for maintainingv the pairs of rails inroper spacing pair from pair, and from t e side-walls 0 the furnace. Round-ended blocks 21, fitting at their ends in sockets 22 formed in the furnace walls -30and-in sockets 23 formed on the adjacent rails, and other round-ended blocks 24, fitting attheir ends in sockets '25 formed in-the rails, c onstitute such means.

The blocks 19,21, 24, with their sockets, are arranged in aligned groups, as shownin Fig. 6,'and the groups succeed one an-' other at. intervals, throughout the lengthof the tunnel. By virtue of the rounding of the ends of the blocks and of the correspond:

ing. rounding of the bottoms ofthe sockets, 'provisionis made for relative longitudinal movement of a the parts, which in some degree under varying conditions of temperature is inevitable. The drawings show the sockets to be provided with webs which, when the partsare in place, extend above the heads of the blocks. These websiprevent the escape of the bldcks from the In; making assembly thejbltcks 19," 21, 24 are laid in positio on the refractory supports (the blocks being slipped to place in-the sockets 22 in the side walls), and the rails are then brought to place upon the supcommon spherical surface, and a trunnioned disk whose trunnions' resting upon said bearings engage thebearing surfaces along arcs of a common circum-- lines which are ference. v

2. Inconveying apparatus a pai'rof bearings with concave bearing surfaces con forming to a common spherical surface, and

5 Conveying apparatus including a of rails provided ontheir opposite throatedv sockets, and a compression and tension block of dumb-bell shape extending between said rails, its heads being engaged withipn said sockets.

6. conveying apparatu sha the combination with the opposite walls of a furnace chamber of a rail structure arranged between the furnace walls and including a pair of rails provided on theiropposite faces with a pair of eockets-,- I a. spacer-block extending between. said rails said sockets, and spacer-.

and engaged b blocks arrange between the furnace walls and-the said rail structure andaligned with the s acer-block' first named 'z 7.- n conveying apparatus furnace the combinatlon with the opposite walls of-a furnace chamber of a plurality of pairs of rails, the railsof each pairbeing provided on opposite faces with a pair of sockets, spacer-blocks extending between the rails of each pair and engaged at'their ends,

by said sockets, spacer-blocks arranged between adjacent a blocks arranged be verseiy of the furnace "chamber. 8. n conveying "apparatus for a heat1 furnace a conveyor .rail adapted to rest upon the furnace floorand a rail-spacing blockl' adapted to rest upon the furnace floor, the rail being prqvided'withja block-engagmg pocket ada ted in the placement of the rail i I 'rnace' floor to come to position upon'the [in engagement with a previously placed block, the pocket. beingv provided with a I web which in the assembly block-retaining extends above the block.

nature. 7

a trunnioned disk whose trunnions resting upon said bearings engage the bearing surfaces along lines-wlrlch are arcs of a common circumference.

3. In conveying apparatus a bearings with bearing surfaces con orming air of in cross-section to a common circumference, and a trunnioned dlsk whose trunmons rest upon said bearings, the bearing surfaces of said trunnions upon an axial plane conforming to a common circumference ofe radius to that of said bearings.

4. Conveying apparatus including qual a pair of rails provided on their opposite faces with a pair of sockets and a spacer-block extending between said rails and engaged by said sockets. u

with a pair of round-bottomed, narrow? s' for a heating for a heating I irs of rails, and spacer tween the chamber wallsv and adjacent rails, the spacer-blocks of the three said categories being aligned trans- In testimony whereof I aflixmy sigf JESSE R. MOSER. 11o 

